Fight to the Top

by S. L. Gape

  “Yes of course, I can nip down there if you want? Do you need something from your car?”

  “No, I just figured it was maybe my time to have a drink, ya know? Catch up from some others?” she smirked, eyeing Georgia’s beer. “Thanks for this, I’ll be five is all.”

  “Well that’s fine, I don’t mind at all. However, I have got a bottle of white, a few beers, half a bottle of red and half a bottle of pink. Sorry blush,” she smirked. “You can have these if you like, saving you buying any?”

  “No, I couldn’t possibly,” she said.

  “Why not? I’m offering.”

  “Are you sure? I can get some cash,” she said, walking back into her room.

  Georgia grabbed her hand and pulled her back. “I don’t need nor want your money,” she said as her face was close to her own. “I would like to give you a drink,” holding her hands up, “no strings, no expectations,” she said. “I tell you what. I’ll even throw in a movie if you fancy it? If not, just take what you like and go back to yours. Help yourself,” Georgia said, turning her back to Erika and grabbing another beer, trying her damnedest to not sound weird and desperate.

  “Well, I wouldn’t want to intrude. You seem kind of chill here.”

  “As long as you don’t talk through my movie of…boy meets girl, boy falls in love with girl, boy fucks up, boy gets sense, boy declares his undying love for said girl, boy gets girl. Then I’m more than happy to allow you to share this special moment with me,” she smirked. “What do you want to drink?”

  “Do you mind if I continue with the blush? I’m just gonna go change into my sweats. I don’t like being stuck in this, while you’re in your sweats already.”

  Georgia poured a drink for Erika and put it on the bedside table across from the side she was sitting. She lay back down sipping her beer. She desperately tried to have words with herself over the way she was acting.

  A few minutes later, Erika returned with her hair pulled in a high ponytail, a pair of cotton shorts and a zip up hoodie. “Hey, is this mine”? she said, picking up the glass and settling on the bed.

  “Nah, it’s for the little girl next door, when she wakes up,” she smirked, trying desperately to ignore the exceptionally long…bare legs.” This wasn’t good. How the hell has this happened? We’ve literally been speaking for about a week, she thought to herself, and here was Georgia having thoughts like this. This wasn’t good.

  “You always this sarcastic? Or just when you’re nervous?”

  “I’m not nervous at all. I am always naturally sarcastic,” she smiled sarcastically.

  “Hmmm, sure you are.”

  “Whatever. Anyhow, sssshhhh, I love this movie.”

  “Yeah me too. Can’t beat a good ole fashion love story,” she said.

  “Wouldn’t have put you down as the romantic movie type.”

  “How so?”

  “Don’t know. I guess because you keep going all shy and embarrassed around me after our kiss last night.”

  “You can’t stop bringing it up, can you?” Erika smiled.

  “Yep, I sure can,” she said, mocking her with a gesture of zipping her mouth shut, taking more of her beer.

  The pair lay quietly watching the TV together, every so often each sneaking a glance to the other. Erika got up. “You want another?” she said, pouring herself the remainder of the blush.

  “Yeah, while you’re up, you may as well make yourself useful,” she laughed.

  “You’re a jerk you know that?” she said, throwing an ice cube at Georgia, who squealed as the cold, cube hit her.

  “Screw you,” Georgia said, putting the ice cube in the bin.

  “You wish, honey,” Erika said in a long southern drawl, handing Georgia the beer as she climbed back onto the bed again.

  “Ohhh, check out little miss confident, now she’s had a drink.”

  Erika leaned in close to Georgia’s face, “I don’t need booze to be confident, nor do I need to hide behind sarcasm,” she smirked, taking a sip of her wine and returning to the position she was in on the bed.

  Georgia was lost for words. This woman had got her nervous and it was pissing her off. “Hmmm, whatever.”

  “Whatever all you want. It’s true. I can do all I want without booze, if I wanted to.”

  “Well, you couldn’t last night. You wanted to kiss me, but you got me to do it. You didn’t have the confidence to take the lead,” she smirked.

  “Maybe it’s because I wasn’t bothered about kissing you. Maybe the booze was why I didn’t take the lead,” Erika laughed back.

  Georgia went to say something but didn’t know how to respond to it. Shit. How the hell was this woman getting under her skin so much?

  Erika hadn’t known Georgia to go quiet once since they had been spending time together, and suddenly felt kind of shitty. Unfortunately, Georgia was right, she didn’t have the confidence anymore. She wasn’t the bold, brash woman she used to be. Which was annoying her to no end. Because as the alcohol was flowing freely through her body, all she wanted to do right now was kiss her again. Although she knew being here on her bed, probably wasn’t the greatest idea she’d ever had. Albeit, she knew that was the reason she had purposely knocked on Georgia’s door to ask her to look after Dulcie. In the hope, she would have done exactly this.

  Erika turned to look at Georgia who was watching the TV intently. “But I guess you know I’m lying about that,” she said in response to the comment about not wanting to kiss her. She looked over at Georgia to see if there was any change to her demeanour.

  Georgia sipped her beer and looked over to her. “Who knows, you were fucked. Could have just been a chance opportunity, try something new? Forget the pain, ya know?” she said harshly, pissed off at herself for being so reactive when they were just messing about with each other.

  “I deserved that, I guess. But the issue remains. I was trashed, yes. But I did want to kiss you, desperately. I just didn’t have the courage to do so, more so because I didn’t know if you wanted to kiss me. I thought you might have, but I couldn’t be so sure. That was the reason I put it on you. Just saying,” she said seriously.

  “I wanted to from the moment you opened the door,” Georgia said, still looking at the TV. “Also, just saying,” she smirked, not looking at Erika and keeping her eyes on the TV.

  “You did, huh?” she raised an eyebrow.

  Georgia shook her head at the woman, “You, lady, are painful.”

  “What? I have no idea what you mean.”

  “Hmmm. Sure, you don’t. Just like you don’t think I don’t know that you gain a bit more confidence with every drink you have. And now that you know I wanted to kiss you, then maybe you need to return the favour.”

  “Return the favour?”

  “Yeah, you owe me one,” she said, laughing as she got up. “You want another drink, or do you need to stop after two, in order to control yourself?” she smirked, looking over her shoulder to Erika.

  “You’re gonna get your ass whooped if you keep up this ball busting.”

  “Promises, promises.”

  Georgia got back on the bed and handed Erika a glass of white. “One glass of white, with a side of confidence,” she said, unable to control the laughing.

  “You really are a pain in the butt. You know that, right?”

  “Yup, fully aware. Which only makes me want to do it more.”

  “Hmmm, yeah I can imagine. Loving it, huh?”

  “Yeah, I really am. I mean, I have debated just kissing you on several occasions this evening, but I think I’ll enjoy it even more by pressuring you into it. To see if you have actually got the bottle.”

  “Well, maybe I don’t wanna kiss ya no more. Maybe I realised after last night, that…ya know it’s not all that good. Maybe like a five, or if I’m in a generous mood, a six?” she smirked, sipping her wine without looking at Georgia.

  “Sod off, I’m a great kisser. I’ve be
en told loads. Cheeky cow.”

  “Well maybe you are to Brits, but ever thought that they are shit kissers, too? I mean, I’m just saying. I’m Italian, the language of love, romance, and passion.” She couldn’t help but laugh at the ridiculousness of what was coming out of her mouth.

  Georgia picked up her pillow and threw it to Erika.

  “Heeeey, the drink man,” she said, wiping her arm of the drips that had fallen, and putting it on the side. Erika rolled over on her side moving closer to Georgia. “So, you have a real thing over me kissing you, huh?” she said, smiling.

  “I don’t have a real thing! I just think it’s amusing that someone like you, doesn’t have the bottle to kiss me, when it’s so apparent that you want to,” she said, stifling the grin and copying Erika’s position.

  “Wow, you’re so full of yourself,” she laughed.

  “Interestingly, I’m not,” she said, moving closer to Erika. “But you do seem to have a weird effect on me. Or this place does,” she said doubtfully.

  “Oh yeah? How so?”

  “Well, I know you won’t believe this, but I am never like this. I don’t know whether it’s this place…well not this place per se. But the whole being away. Maybe it’s making me take a different look at my life and me. Who I am?” she said seriously. “Or maybe it’s just because you are so uptight at times, and I love taking the piss. Honestly, I don’t know. I think historically, girls came after me. Oh, my God that sounded so arrogant. I didn’t mean it to sound that way. I don’t have time for women, so I tend to not get involved. As you’ve already seen.” She stopped, and pointed down to her bright coral pineapple dance trackies. “I love my comfies and chill out time, so I don’t even go the village and do what normal singletons do, get wasted and then go home with countless women. I work hard, then go home and try to rest hard. So, for that reason the very rare occasions I’ve been near anyone, it was all instigated by them. I guess to put it simply, being around someone, a lot, that’s more oblivious and less confident than even I am, is almost giving me this…I dunno…like booster. More confidence, ownership…it’s making me want to make you realise you shouldn’t lack such confidence, and you should have some fun and enjoy life. Ok, well I don’t know who this is talking but certainly isn’t me,” she said, pulling a confused face.

  “Well, personally I dunno what you have to lack confidence for, but that’s my view.”

  “Touché.”

  “So, it seems your little speech worked?” she said, maintaining eye contact.

  “Yeah, how so?” she winked at the play on Erika’s terminology.

  “Well, whether it was true or not, it’s given me that extra boost of confidence you said you had.”

  “I don’t lie, Erika. I don’t see the point,” Georgia said seriously.

  “And strangely, again. I believe that,” she said as she leaned in and gently ran her index finger down the side of her face, causing her to gasp. Erika leaned in and met Georgia’s lips with her own. She pushed her fingers to the back of her short hair, feeling the soft spikes at the bottom of her head, from the short crop cut.

  Georgia couldn’t control the feeling inside of her. She was shocked that Erika had the bottle to pull it off, but by god this woman could kiss. Georgia moved in closer, deepening the kiss, and pulled Erika to her and found her tongue with her own.

  Georgia thought she heard a giggle. She pushed past it, figuring she had heard wrong. But she hadn’t, that was definitely it again. She continued the kiss before giving in and realising it was a no go. “Ok, so laughing into a kiss, is not the best thing for a girl’s confidence,” she said, pulling back, looking at Erika.

  “I’m sorry, sorry. Honestly, I’m so sorry. It isn’t you…”

  “Oh, my God. Do not dare say it’s not you, it’s me,” Georgia spat.

  “Shut up. It’s not a break up here. It isn’t you. I am thirty-eight, gone back to fifteen. That’s what’s giving me hysterics.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “I mean, I’m making out with someone on a bed that isn’t my own and that I’m not dating. Seriously, I feel like a freaking teenager, and it was just making me giggle. I’m sorry. It wasn’t you, or the kiss, I can assure you. It just feels kind of weird, you know?”

  “Yeah, I get it,” she said sombrely, but she kept kicking herself for pissing about with A. someone so off limits and B. a straight? Seriously, she got this shit out of her system twenty years ago. She wasn’t one for thinking that she could change straight girls, Jesus they had far too much baggage. She didn’t want to be dealing with that, but there was something about Erika she liked, and she knew there was so many things wrong with that.

  “I’ve offended you?”

  “No, no you haven’t. Honestly, just all a bit weird and a bit of a mess, I suppose.”

  “Ouch, yet again I get ditched. You are awesome for my self-confidence, lady,” Erika said coolly.

  “You need to stop overthinking everything I say and listen to me when I talk to you…last night, and possibly tonight. I’m not going to be able to control myself, and I’m already thinking this is going to be so messy. So, with me not being able to control myself, yeah, I think it’s a bit of a worry. But God, you are looking at it all the wrong way. You are looking at it that I keep stopping and starting. I want you, then I change my mind. That isn’t the case, that’s never been the case. The fact of the matter is, you’re fucking gorgeous, who gets me completely engulfed with each kiss we have that I don’t want to stop. I don’t want the kiss to stop, in fact I want nothing more than to spend all night long, kissing you longer, harder, deeper, and more importantly all over,” she said, looking deeply into Erika’s surprised eyes.

  Erika couldn’t breathe. She’d never fully understood when people spoke of being at a crossroads when there was a decision for you to make there and then. Suddenly, for the first time ever, she was invested in that decision. She couldn’t think of what to do though, because she always over analysed everything. That was just her. That was what she did. So, for now, she was just going to go for it and deal with the consequences later.

  And that she did. Erika pushed Georgia back, grabbing her hands by the wrists. The expression on her face gave everything that Erika needed to continue what she was doing. “How about you stop talking and realise that I’m a grown ass woman. And how about I be the decider of that?” she said, before kissing her deeply once again.

  Georgia felt like she was chained to the bed, and although Erika had said herself about being a ’big girl’, she didn’t want to push it too far. But God, that was the most difficult task ever right now. And one she didn’t know if she could achieve. She genuinely didn’t think she had the self-control over this woman. Georgia heard a faint groan and didn’t know if it was her or Erika. It was only when it happened the second time that she realised it was neither of them.

  “Shoot!” Erika stopped and pulled away, listening to the grumblings of her daughter in the next room. It was quiet for a moment before the crying began. Erika rolled over onto her back and smashed her head against the pillow groaning loudly. “I’m sorry,” she said sincerely. “I’m really, really sorry,” she said, getting up and going to her daughter.

  “Don’t be. Go and make sure Dulcie is okay.” She smiled kindly, watching Erika leave.

  ***

  Erika was feeling uncertain of what to do, and she wished she’d just shut the door behind her when she left to get Dulcie. Now it had been over thirty minutes since she left and the door was still open, leaving her with the dilemma of whether she should go back or just stay here. Did Georgia want her to go back? Was she awake still? Equally, she didn’t want to appear presumptuous. Come on, pull yourself together, you’re a grown ass woman.

  “Hey, you still up?” Erika poked her head around the connecting door, looking at Georgia. “I didn’t know if I should come back or not.”

  “Yeah, I don’t think I’m going to be able
to sleep for a while after that,” she said. “I didn’t know if you’d come back either, or if you wanted to.” She smiled at Erika.

  “I didn’t know if I should, or if you wanted me to. My daughter has impeccable timing,” she sighed. “But, maybe it was a blessing in disguise?” she questioned.

  “I don’t want to sound like I regret that, because it isn’t the case, you are sexy as hell…”

  “But?”

  Georgia squirmed “Unfair! But, as much as that was probably the most passion I’ve experienced in a bloody long time, I can honestly say I have never ever, had so little self-control, and it’s killing me. But equally, I just don’t want you to get hurt, and I think you are going through a somewhat difficult time. Getting pissed and shagging someone, who in fact was your arch nemesis last week, leaves me thinking that you will wake up feeling shit, beat yourself up, and live to regret it forever. Which in turn will make me feel rubbish because I’m pretty sure I’ll have had one of the best nights of my life, but will then feel incredibly guilty and bad over making you feel this way. Additionally, the only way you will be able to deal with the guilt attached to bedding me would be to become distant, and then that will result in more issues at work, and potentially Mike kicking both of our arses,” she sighed.

  “Wow, you really have thought all that out, huh?”

  “Well, I’ve spent the last half hour praying you’d come, praying you wouldn’t…that was no pun intended,” she looked at Erika, who was sitting on the edge of the bed.

  “You’re a goofball,” she laughed.

  “I know, but I do it so well. You have an incredible smile; for the record,”

  “For the record, flirting with me is not going to help when it comes to trying to steer clear of each other. So, how did it fall when I came in?”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Well, you said you were praying I would come back, then I wouldn’t etc. I figured you were doing this like a bit of a ‘he loves me, he loves me not’ method, so when I arrived back at your door, was it on come or don’t come?”